Jul 09, 2006

Toby's Dumb Dummies @ TTF

Kaching Brands made its first public splash at The Taipei Toy Festival. Their booth featured a preview look at several upcoming toys, most of which will be available for purchase at SDCC. Toby, a talented designer from HK, was the clear star of the booth. He was on-hand as Kaching's representative and eagerly answered questions about his upcoming Dumb Dummies line. Dumb Dummies highlights the spark of life to be found by others in our everdays lives which may seem repetitive and monotonous to us.

The first figure in this new line is TobyHK which is based on Toby himself right down to the numbers tattooed on his left hand. What are the numbers? Hmm... A secret alien code? Nope. They represent the day and time he met his girlfriend. This way, he'll never forget ;) TobyHK is a really nice figure complete with removable satchel and removable goggles. While the prototypes shown here have glued-on goggles, the production goggles will be removable thanks to an elastic band (which looks pretty slick). There are four versions currently planned -- Black (SDCC Exclusive) complete with a golden opera mask design on the face, Red -- exclusive to Asia, the standard Blue and a Game of Death inspired yellow and black. TobyHK puts Toby's stamp on the classic HK urban style. This is one cool figure loaded with subtle details from the spunky sculpted hair to the ear bling to the bracelets.

Toby also has a series of blind-boxed mini-fig dogs in two designs, Seme and Dum, which are part of Dumb Dummies. The chase figures will be a striking metallic gold. Judging from the traffic at the booth, women really dig these cute figs ;-)

Both TobyHK and the dogs will be available at SDCC. In the fall, Toby will strike a huge blow for Dumb and Dummies with Holy, a bruising boxer. A rough prototype of this figure was shown at the booth sporting a visor. Holy has seen his share of rough times in the ring as evidenced by his partially chewed on left ear ;) Hmm, wonder where the name comes from ;-) Did we mention this is a big figure? It stands at least 10 inches high and is a seriously beefy figure. While much tightening is needed (including making the arms and hands truly symmetrical), Holy should come out on top once completed.

Beyond Dumb and Dummies, Toby has also created the Fourcube figure which will be released at SDCC as a DIY figure. This one is quite large as well standing an easy 10 (probably more like 12+) inches high. The future will see some beautifully designed Fourcubes. Finally, Fourcube is a preview of sorts for Toby's next series, Planet Rock.

So what does an artist do in the lulls of a long convention? Sketch of course. Toby filled his sketchbook with page after page of new characters. He also does walls ;-)

Also, not shown at the booth were Toby's TWO repaints of the upcoming 12" FLCL Canti vinyl to be released at SDCC. Toby, remember the name, you'll be hearing alot more from him soon enuff.

Btw, you heard it here first -- Kaching Brands and Toby will make a HUGE splash at SDCC ;-)